By all reports, it used to be a happy place. A house right next to a “Tunnel of Many Vistas”, an engineering marvel from 1915 on the original 73-mile route of the Columbia River Highway, the first major paved highway in the Pacific Northwest and the first scenic highway constructed in the United States. By the 1930s, that building became a roadhouse, a service station, a restaurant and a bunch of rental cabins for overnighters who drove their cars out to Hood River, admiring the tunnel along the way. Much dancing, fueled by moonshine, gregarious company and fun throughout the Prohibition.

The original Mitchell Point Tunnel was closed in 1953, no longer safe, and no longer able to accommodate increased numbers of ever larger cars. It was ultimately destroyed and filled with rocks in 1966 to widen I-84. (The basalt that constitutes the surrounding mountain and delivered those rocks, is in itself a thing of beauty – just look at the coloration!)

Want to join me for a short walk? The tunnel is now rebuilt and connected to the Historic Highway State Trail through a steep mountain at Mitchell Point, open for hikers (and eventual bikers) only. (You can reach it by car, but parking is extremely limited (fewer than 20 spaces with no off-rad alternative available. So choose timing wisely.) The State Trail hopes to connect The Dalles with Troutdale once again, a stretch of 68 miles or so.

The choice to visit this place, opened to the public less than two months ago, was the perfect antidote to the feelings incited by this week’s news. For me it was the mix of assaults against individual people or groups combined with attacks on ideas and values, never mind the law, that registered as such heavy burden. To name just a few: a brain-dead Georgia woman kept alive on tubes to serve as an incubator to her unborn baby due to new restrictive abortion laws, with her family having to foot the bill for the next many months, never mind not facing a form of closure. Birthing machines, even in death.

The passage of the “big beautiful bill,” that will deprive millions of kids and people living with disability of food, and kick over 13 million people off health insurance.

• A bill that will lead to the closure of over 150 rural hospitals, not only making timely health care accessibility close to impossible in those areas, but also kicking 1000s of people off impossible to replace – jobs.

• A bill that deprives young and adult trans people alike of HRT or surgical treatment compensation.
• A bill that has hidden clauses like: “no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.”

• And, in one of its most authoritarian passages, a bill that order judicial silencing in Sec. 80121(h): “No court shall have jurisdiction to review any action taken by the Secretary, the EPA Administrator, a State or municipal agency, or any other Federal agency […] to issue a lease, permit, biological opinion, or other approval.” In other words, if the government approves drilling, mining, or development, even illegally, you can’t sue. – It applies retroactively, killing lawsuits already in progress. – Tribes, environmental groups, citizens, even states, lose the right to challenge these approvals in court.

• A bill that contains provisions (sec. 70302) that would block federal courts from enforcing contempt charges against government officials who violate court orders, unless a judge required a monetary bond when issuing the original injunction (which is rarely done.) This would clearly undermine the already tenuous balance of power between our branches of government.

On the disaster preparedness front, the news was equally worrying. The Trump administration canceled 33 million in funding to help prepare and protect Californians from earthquake damage. And FEMA announced that it canceled its Four-Year strategic Plan ahead of Hurricane season, with no replacement given. This came a week after the announcement that FEMA is ending Door-to-Door canvassing in disaster areas to provide aid.

Tunnel as antidote to all this? Yes! Not only is there light at the end of the tunnel. The new tunnel mirrors the historic tunnel with re-constructed arched windows with views of the Columbia River, letting light in continuously along the way. Such a prominent reminder that not all is dark – there are islands of hope, of openness, of change and restoration (like this very tunnel), as well as resilience.

And speaking of which, the wildflowers clinging to the steep cliffs surrounding this site, were in bloom or in brightest green of emergent leaves, on the scarcest of soil. The delicate poppies swayed with the sharp wind, not defeated. Nature’s will and strength to survive on full view. Turned out to be a happy place, indeed.

Anthem of the day: had to be this, right?